Our tour guide was Dawn and she was awesome. She was very knowledgeable, friendly, and easy to understand and converse with. The tour is fun and you learn some interesting pieces of knowledge you would never think of. Granted, I did expect more scary stuff or better haunting stories, but that probably just me.
The biggest surprise to us was we expected more of a private tour where you could easily have Q&A sessions and time to listen and process your thoughts. This is not the case, or at least it wasn't with our tour. Dawn gave us all chances to ask questions, but I think people don't want to try and yell our their questions and may not feel like there is time get an appropriate answer considering the time of our tour and the hassle of just listening and keeping up in the crowds.
Other problems include the organization of it all. They need to find a way to minimize the impact the crowds around you have on your tour. There were times we could not understand Dawn because we could not hear here due to the noise levels. It's not her fault it's crowded in Salem, especially in October, but the tour group as a whole needs to mitigate the impact somehow. There were times we came across other groups and they would be listening and learning as well but the guides would overlap each other with their voices and you couldn't focus on just your guide specifically. These tours need to be made more private or perhaps just not hosted in the later part of October since the crowds are huge. One idea is to provide headphones to the group so we can hear Dawn over a mic system of some sort meaning she can talk more relaxed and we can listen without stressing over outside sounds.
At one point we couldn't even move to another spot for a discussion because of the crowd so we stayed in one place for two discussions (stories) which also happened to be the one place where Dawn could not yell, I guess due to some policy or rules with a business in the area. We always had to put forth effort just to keep track of where our leader is and struggled to reach her at times due to the traffic. Dawn used an umbrella we could all recognize in order to spot her in the crowd, which did help for sure.
The other issue is fairness with paying. We loved our guide and tour overall, but I noticed how easy it would be for a random passersby to just intrude and join the group without having to check in with Dawn meaning they got a free tour whereas the rest of us had to pay. We did check in with Dawn in the beginning and she was making her way around the group, but it would be super easy for a stranger to just roll up and join the group in the back observing and listening. I saw several snoopers wandering around just to listen. Anybody can do this so it needs to be in a more controlled environment somehow and all guests need to check in and perhaps be wearing a shirt or wristband or something that indicates you belong with this group and you paid for your entry.
It was a great tour overall and our guide was awesome. If the necessary improvements are made, then it will be top notch (5 stars). For us, it's barely a 4/5.
Відповідь від хоста
Nov 2022
Hi!
Thank you so much taking the time to leave a review. I’m so thrilled to hear that you had a wonderful time with Dawn on our tour. We definitely appreciate your feedback, thank you so much!!
Please come back and see us again soon!
All the best,
Beth and Dawn